Mugabe has just hours to quit before he is impeached

President Robert Mugabe has just hours to quit as leader of Zimbabwe, or he faces being impeached. The ruling ZANU-PF party has given Mugabe until noon local time – 10am in the UK – to stand down.

If he fails to do so, ZANU-PF will begin impeachment proceedings. The 93-year-old leader defied expectations last night that he would resign in a televised ‘exit speech’. He stunned Zimbabweans in the rambling address by avoiding any mention of resignation. 

Instead, he told viewers he intended to preside over a congress next month of ZANU-PF, which sacked him as its leader on Sunday morning. Mugabe addresses the nation but does not resign.

Now people in the country are said to be worried about their country’s fate, with more protests planned to put pressure on Mugabe to quit. ‘Arrogant Mugabe disregards ZANU-PF,’ one of the country’s newspaper headlines said today.

Parliament does not sit on Mondays so any impeachment would have to wait until Tuesday. Some ruling party members say the process of impeachment likely wouldn’t lead to Mugabe’s immediate resignation and could take days to complete.

Zimbabwe’s liberation war veterans, who have been among the most vocal in calling for Mugabe’s resignation, are expected to hold a media briefing at 9.30am. 

Having been sacked by his party, Mugabe has run out of options but appears to be steadfastly clinging to the very last vestiges of power. There was even speculation that he read the wrong speech in his live television address, or skipped over passages about standing down.

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